Blog

Sherlock: Series Vs Book

There is an internal discussion between two categories of people. One category of them likes to watch different movies and screen adaptations of different books. Other group doesn’t like to do it and prefer to read book instead of watching its screen adaptation. Feel free to visit online classes for money and be wise and to know more interesting books and authors. Nowadays we can admit that more and more movies are made on the grounds of definite books. For example, well-known Harry Potter was released in cinemas and was quite successful. However, those who read it said that screen adaptation killed the story and made it very short. Many moments were just thrown away.

Another sad thing is that screen adaptation of books allows people only watch movies but don’t read books. It has become sad reality of modern world. You can also see quite interesting things, for example look at agar.io as modern trend. However, books develop our imagination and they are really good in it. Moreover, books help people to be wiser and cleverer. Sometimes, there is nothing bad in watching screen adaptation of course. However, it is more interesting to compare it with book. It is what we will do in our article.

There were some attempts to create Sherlock in the world of film industry and many people believe that one of the best was in film “Sherlock” with Robert Downey Jr. in the main role. This movie was great, of course, but there is something more interesting and bigger in volume: it’s series. So we will look briefly at book at first and its author because without book there would be no movies and series. Then we will get to know more about series “Sherlock” and finally will compare book with series.

Fountainhead: character created by Arthur Conan Doyle

Sherlock Holmes was created by famous writer and it is the main hero of many stories. In Conan Doyle’s stories, Sherlock has great logic and use method called deduction. There is a version that this method author saw in usage in the hospital where he worked with his fiend. This friend could guess many things about person just by his clothes or some other things. He could also identify a lie and keys to identify a lie are available for you too.

Sherlock can be met in more than fifty stories. As usual story is told by Dr. Watson who is always with detective and helps him to solve different crimes. First story that opened us world of famous detective was “A Study in Scarlet”. Readers were very excited, unlike writer who decided to end his stories and kill his character.

However, he began to receive letters full of disturbance: readers asked him or even required to continue his cycles of stories. That’s why Sherlock returned to life and other stories appeared.

Let’s determine some main facts which will be useful later in our essay. First of all it should be said some words about Holmes in book. We don’t know much about it and mostly it is Dr. Watson who describes him. We know that Sherlock was quite good boxer, he knows only things which required for his job. He likes music and plays violin. Want to learn how to play this instrument or any other? Choose your favorite one among some popular musical instruments. This detective is not usual, he takes all unusual and difficult cases not because of money but because they are sense of his life. Almost nothing is known about relatives of detective and his life before he met Watson.

Some stories became outstanding and read by people all over the world. Here can be mentioned couple of them:

1. “A Study in Scarlet”

First story about Sherlock and first case which he solve together with Dr. Watson. We want stop on plot because it is better to read it at least briefly or read about this story.

2. “The Hound of the Baskervilles”

Story which everybody knows and which is the most famous among all others. It is about huge dog which troubles people of small settlement. Holmes solved this case of course but it is worth reading because is full of mystery and extremely scaring.

There are many other interesting stories and they all are great and equal. All of them take you into the place where actions happen and you will feel as if you solve this problem with Holmes and Watson, or as you look at them solving some cases.

Are screen adaptations always failure?

Now it’s time to talk about screen adaptation of stories. However, it’s hard to call them in this way. Series called “Sherlock” had great success and after first episode was released studio sold rights to many countries for showing this series. It had great popularity among people of different ages as well as critics’ reviews were quite good. Look at some movies, which are as good as this series: http://onlineclassmentor.com/blog/films-that-wont-leave-you-indifferent.

So we can say that this screen adaptation was not failure and it shows modern point of view on book. Some series have something in common with those written by Conan Doyle while many others differ from them.

Series has four seasons each season has three films. Length of each one is about hour and a half. Sherlock is played by Benedict Cumberbatch who became extremely famous after the series.

So we can say that these seriesare not exactly screen adaptation of the book because they took some information about main characters but conditions and crimes in many cases are absolutely different. Now let’s try to compare them in order to see all differences and make a conclusion.

What is different between series and book or does series have right for existence?

At the beginning, we should say that series have rights for existence at least because they show us Sherlock and Watson from absolutely another angle. Let’s compare:

1. Time

First thing, which is absolutely different is years when actions happen. If in book we see typical 1890s in all beauty, series shows us modern world and modern London with all phones, computers and other inventions. However, in one of the episodes Sherlock under influence of opiate goes into his palaces of mind and then says that he solved some crimes as if they all happened in 1690s. So we can see some connection with real ones described in the book, but they are very slight. Moreover, this was not even an episode, it was something like a special issue released before first episode of the fourth season.

In series as well as in book we don’t know much about relatives of Sherlock Holmes. However, both in book and in series we know about Minecraft – brother of Sherlock. In both sources, he is known as person who has high position in the government. But in series Minecraft and Holmes often can be seen together, they speak with each other and sometimes even help each other. Moreover, in series we get to know that Sherlock also has a sister.

4. Similarities and differences in episodes

Although many moments are absolutely different and episodes sometimes are about something which is not described in book, some similarities can be found. These are similarities not between episodes and stories but mostly those between main heroes and characters who appear in definite episodes.

Let’s look at some of them:

- “A Study in Pink” vs “A Study in Scarlet”

We can see that colors are little bit different, while episode as well as story opens the whole circle about Sherlock Holmes. In story, Sherlock worked as assistant and met Watson in hospital. What about series? Holms just came to the hospital (to morgue if saying more precisely) to make some experiments and Watson was taken there by his friend. Of course as in book, they both wanted to find a logging, but circumstances in which they met are different in book and series. Want to get as much pleasure from job as Sherlock does? In this case, you should know about tips on finding dream job.

But we can say that plot is very different and if in book it has prehistory in series it is simpler as well as even crimes in series and their goals are different from those in book.

There can be found much more examples of course, which are connected to plot. We will look at one more because there are quite many other differences we can mention.

- “Hound of the Baskervilles”

The plot is similar: there is huge dog, which hunt definite people. The whole settlement is in horror. However if in book everything was quite real including huge dog which breed is Hound but of bigger size, in series everything was made in modern style. Although plot is almost identical, there was a secret hospital where different experiments were hold. Exactly there special substance was produced. It causes different ravings and exactly that’s why victim sees huge dog. We won’t say the ending of the episode because we are sure that you would like to watch it. It has the same name as story of the book, so feel free to watch it. Before watching, you may also get acquainted with the same story written by Conan Doyle.

5. Main characters

The last point in our list is to describe relations between main characters and their role in book and series. Some characters except Sherlock and Watson should be seen in both book and series, they are: Minecraft Holmes (elder brother of Holmes), Watson’s wife, Mrs. Hudson, Irene Adler, Mr. Lestrade (policeman who asks Sherlock for help) and Moriarty (main opponent and enemy for Sherlock).

But let’s now look at some of these characters and compare their role in book and in series.

- Dr. Watson

In stories, he always just describes Holmes’ cases but we can’t see his direct presence as usual. In series, Sherlock and Watson are always together and it seems like somebody describes them. However, in series, Watson also makes notes about crimes, which Sherlock solve. But unlike book they are all in form of blog in the Internet.

- Minecraft Holmes

As we mentioned above both in series and stories Minecraft described as very important person in the government. However, in book all information ends with this. In series, we know more about Minecraft and see that sometimes he even surpasses Sherlock in mental capacity. Sometimes two brothers work on the same crimes. If you are smart but have problems with some exams because they are not for you, feel free to get help with exams online.

- Dr. Watson’s wife

She is mentioned both in book and in series; however, she is absolutely different in each of the sources. In book, she is like a usual woman and in childhood, she had some difficulties. She gives case to Holmes in book as well as she did in series however, in series, she is absolutely different: she is dangerous and had dark past as she was a hitman.

Her role in serial is bigger than in book and with her appearance, she takes one of the main roles near Watson and Holmes.

- Moriarty

He is as genius as Holmes but he is the king of another world – world of crimes. As previous character above, Moriarty in series has huge role and can be seen in some episodes. In book, we see him only when Sherlock died.

To sum up we can say that series is not a failure because it is story of Sherlock Holmes but in absolutely new world and circumstances. We can see that main characters taken from book have the same qualities as in book while everything else is different. Feel free to get to know more about class mentor and receive help at our site. Some episodes have similarities with stories written by Conan Doyle, but they are rewritten in new manner and adapted for the new modern world. One may criticize series because it is not based on book and differs from it too much, but at the same time, doesn’t it make series unique and successful?